Starting a craft show business when you’re really an artist at heart may be a rude awakening for you. Nevertheless, if you decide to turn your hobby into a business, you need to switch hats from time to time. You wear your artist hat when creating and producing your crafts, and you put on your business person’s hat when you’re running the business end. Begin successful on the craft show circuit doesn’t just mean you have a great product; it also means you have a decent head for business.

Planning your craft show business

It’s not absolutely essential to write a craft show business plan if you’re not seeking a loan or partner, however, it can help you focus your business goals from the start. There are numerous books and Web sites on how to write a business plan, and most will fit with craft shows just fine. The most crucial elements are the financial projections?which include your estimated income and expense for the next several years?and the marketing plan. The marketing plan helps you identify your target audience and how you can best find and serve them. This is essential as you develop your craft show product and find the right shows at which to sell. If you are seeking capital or a partner, you will probably need a complete business plan. If doing this overwhelms you, contact your local Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Center, Chamber of Commerce or local universities to find help with developing a professional business plan for your craft show company. At this point, you may also seek the advice of an attorney to decide what business entity yours will be?a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a limited liability company or a corporation. You can always grow into corporate status later on, though it’s advisable to at least know your options up front.

Licensing your craft show business

Most cities require any business, home-based or otherwise, to register and purchase a business license. These range in cost from $15 to $100 depending on the size of your city and are obtained from the city clerk’s office in most cases. It makes your craft show company official and enables you to conduct business legally. Find out if your city requires any special-use permits for operating a home-based business. The rules may differ if you have customers, supply trucks or employees coming to your location.

You may also need to file a fictitious name statement with your county offices if you call yourself anything other than your name, such as Posh Pottery. This guarantees that nobody else in your county is using the same business name. From here your file the name with a newspaper, and then you can open your business checking account. It’s highly advisable to keep craft show business income and expenses separate from personal if you are serious about being in business. Then on a regular basis, you can “pay” yourself from your business account. You can also now file your taxes as a business entity and take advantage of the many tax exemptions for businesses. Car expenses or mileage, supplies, overhead costs and more are all deductible. Find a copy of a schedule C (www.irs.gov) to see some of the expenses you can write off.

Now you have officially moved out of the hobby status and in to the serious craft show business. Actually the IRS considers your enterprise a hobby if you haven’t made a profit in two out of five years that you file as a business. If that happens, it’s time to rethink taking your goods to craft shows as a business venture.

You will probably need to get a resale (sales tax) license. This allows you to buy wholesale anything you will be reselling and not pay taxes, however, you need to charge tax on your crafts and then submit it to the tax board either monthly, quarterly or annually. Check with your local state board of equalization or state office of taxation to find out what their rules are. It doesn’t cost anything to get a resale license.

It’s helpful when starting out to set aside a savings account for your sales tax to be sure you have it when it comes due. Also check with your sales tax office if you are required to collect tax when you’re selling in other states. Some show promoters collect tax from you at the end of the show, so you need to keep accurate records, which you can do by issuing a receipt with every customer purchase. Make sure you find out the amount of tax you need to charge at the show as it varies by city, county and state. Also, it’s a good idea to carry your sales tax permit everywhere?you may need to pick up some supplies, and you can avoid having to pay taxes on them.

Each city, county and state has different regulations regarding licensing, so make some phone calls to find out what’s required, and do this well before your first craft show.

About Author

Natalie Goyette shows you how to make your craft show business profitable in her best selling ebook: Craft Show Success Secrets. Visit her site: http://www.craftshowsuccess.com.

Gummy Jelly Babies are fun and fast to make so we thought they would be cute to make for a charity challenge.

We are setting a goal of making 5000 of these adorable little Gummy jelly babies to be donated to a children’s charity (charity is still being selected)

This is a worldwide challenge with head Gummy Jelly Baby Office being at Craftbits.com (Australia)

Each Baby only takes 1 hour to make and 10 gms of wool, making it a fast project to make up and perfect for sending all over the world.

If you would like to make some babies you can send them to us (Here in Australia) un-stuffed making the postage costs minimal and the effort worthwhile.

The pattern is available here
The babies should be a single color and standard pattern size.

All babies should be sent to us stuffed or un-stuffed to Gummy Jelly Baby Challenge PO box 3106, Birkdale, QLD, Australia , 4159.

Do you know of a charity in Australia who could benefit from these dolls? let us know and we will contact them.

Halloween costumes and accessories can be easily purchased at any local stores. Unfortunately, you’ll probably be paying more for it than its truly worth. Also, your kids are going to wear exactly the same Halloween costumes other kids will be wearing in your neighborhood. Try organizing Halloween crafts for kids. Besides, why sacrifice fun and creativity? Doing Halloween crafts for kids can be a great time to spend time with family. Here are very easy projects you and your kids can do together to create Halloween costumes and homemade make-up.

No-sew Halloween Costume

You can definitely make Halloween costumes with Halloween crafts for kids that don’t have to involve sewing! Sewing can be a daunting task for your kids, too, so try the Haunting Ghouls idea below.

Fit a white fabric or old white bed sheet over your child and mark where the ghost’s eyes should be. Let your child draw the ghost’s eyes around those marks-these could be elliptical or “angry eyes”. Cut out the shape of the eyes so your child can see through them when wearing the costume. Mark the back part of the costume and create a small hole (this will be used to attach two other ghosts later).

Making two floating ghosts for this Halloween crafts for kids is easy, too. All you have to do is to cover two balloons with any kind of sac and secure with a string. Place leftover white fabric or any white cloth over each covered balloon and secure with a safety pin (attach fabric to the sac). Have your child draw eyes and a mouth over the fabrics. Since the balloons are going to keep rotating, your child can draw two ghost faces on each “ghost”, one at the front and another at the back.

With these very simple steps and easy-to-find materials, you now have created floating ghosts! Then next step is to attach the balloons to your child’s belt or clothing through the hole you made at the back of the costume. You can either tie the strings of the balloons to your child’s belt or use a safety pin to attach to your child’s clothes. Your child can now pretend to be a ghost with two other floating ghosts creeping behind!

The Homemade Facial Halloween Crafts For Kids

There are so many varied Halloween crafts for kids in the internet and all you really have to do is to search for them and choose which ones you want to do. If you need to apply makeup, you can easily prepare your own at home. For the base, all you need to do is mix cornstarch, flour, and corn syrup. Use food coloring to add color-red is good for that bloody effect. Use paintbrushes, cotton swabs, or sponges to create different looks.

Always paint one color at a time. To create stripes, spots, or very fine details, utilize a paintbrush. For that smudgy look or to clean up mess, use cotton swabs. Finally, it’s best to use a sponge for the base. Always have a lighter-colored base and paint details one color at a time.

Halloween crafts for kids should always be fun and exciting. After all, you are creating things with your kids. It should be effortless, imaginative, and most of all, enjoyable!

Wondering about Halloween crafts for kids or how to dress your kid up for trick-or-treating? Find no fuss makeup advises, costumes and Halloween crafts for kids that are cool and easy to make!

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Memories of the ’60’s - love beads, hippie beads, beads on a string around necks and wrists, homemade, handmade, swinging with long hair and flowered skirts. Beads were such a strong fashion element of that decade. The subject of beads is a vast one and the hippie incarnation was just a small part of beading history. It is thought that our early ancestors were stringing sea shells as early as 30,000 years ago and the first beads, that developed as a significant trading item, were likely made from seeds. The many materials and methods used in making beads have resulted in an infinite variety. When raw materials of stone, metal, glass, plastic or resin combine with assorted artistic and cultural influences, the bead is in very little danger of becoming boring.
Even with the vast choice of beads available there are a few cautions that should be noted when it come to using beads in your knitting. Along with beads, anything that can have a hole drilled in it or have a shank attached can be successfully worked into your garment. This would include items such as buttons, small charms, mirrors, or even coins. The first consideration is weight. Adding bead ornamentation to your knitted garment will add extra weight whether attached with an embroidery method or knitting in the bead. The trick is to find the beads in the right weight and quantity without causing your garment to sag. So decisions must be made as to what size of bead to use, how many, and is it suitable to the yarn weight. The size of the bead hole must also be considered. A larger bead hole may cause the bead to hang loosely with a dangling effect, unless that is the intent. A bead hole that is too small will not allow for passage of the yarn thickness that you have chosen. Before you begin, it is always best to test your bead choice through whatever cleaning process the finished garment will have to undergo. Join a few of the chosen beads to a knitted swatch and wash or dry clean. Check the sample carefully for dye leakage or staining on your ground fabric.
Beads or decorative objects should be threaded onto the yarn before you begin knitting. If you are working from a chart which will require specific placement and a certain color order, remember that first is last. The first bead to be strung onto the yarn is the last bead to be placed in the knitting. Joining a marker on the yarn to indicate row changes is also helpful. It is advisable to practice the threading and knitting in of the bead to know how the bead will ?sit? on the knitting. The proper placement can vary with size, shape, the way the bead is threaded, and direction of the bead hole. Beads can be knit on a variety of stitches but to start, practice on knit stitches, working as follows: Knit to where you wish to place the bead, bring yarn and the bead to front of work, slip the next stitch purlwise, take yarn to back of work, leaving the bead at front, knit the next stitch.
If this experiment gets you hooked on beads, there a number of books which outline the fascinating history of beads as well as tempting projects. A classic standby, both encyclopedic and inspirational, that will give you wonderful lessons in the history and classification of beads is “The Book Of Beads” by Janet Cole and Robert Budwig (Simon and Schuster). A more recent offering from Lily Chin, “Knit and Crochet With Beads” (Interweave Press) will walk you through specific beading and knitting projects.
Placing beads on your knitting can add additional layers of color and texture to your knit and purls, not to mention triggering all those flower child memories.

Maddy Cranley is a professional knitwear designer, who has created exclusive designs for knitting and craft magazines, authored and published three books on the subject of creating felt garments and projects from handknitting, and produces an ever-expanding line of maddy laine handknitting patterns. For additional information, see http://www.maddycraft.com

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